


Lightbringer

by ChaosHorizons



Series: Lightbringer [1]
Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Baggage, Found Family, Gen, Identity Issues, Post-Game, i promise that one makes sense down the line, letting go by holding on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 12:24:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18476179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaosHorizons/pseuds/ChaosHorizons
Summary: In the aftermath of the battle for the Spire, Aloy must find her footing in a world that no longer needs her to save it every other day.





	Lightbringer

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to post this now so that I HAVE to polish the rest of what I have written. So. Welcome to Lightbringer! The tags will change as we go, to avoid spoiling any big plot points before they're properly written, so be aware that things like rating, pairings, and warnings may change as needed. Please don't hesitate to tell me if I didn't tag something that you wanted to avoid, and I hope you enjoy... whatever this monster is going to turn in to!

After, when Erend and Varl had worn themselves out celebrating. After, when HADES lay in smoldering ruin beneath the Spire. After, when the Deathbringer stopped sparking. After everything, Aloy felt more tired than she ever had before. She began the slow and tedious process of ripping shield-weaver plating from her kit, shedding chunks like so much dead skin as she walked to the lone standing archway her companions were gathering under. Everyone looked like. Well. “You all look like boar shit.”

 

Everyone froze, and for a split second Aloy was afraid she had overstepped some unspoken boundary. Then Talanah was laughing, shaking with it, and tears began to ruin what was left of her meticulously applied face paint. “W-we look like shit?” she wheezed, tipping over onto her left side. “Find a pool, Aloy!” Then Erend is bellowing, holding his side, and Varl is giggling, and it started to feel like a victory. A real one, not some intangible check on a never-ending list.

 

Aloy took her place among them, back to the open air, and huffed out a little laugh for them. “No thank you, I’m sure I look worse.” She felt like it. Sitting hurt, but so did standing. So did blinking. Her own heartbeat sent painful throbs shooting down every limb and rocked her brain in her skull. “I can’t believe that worked.”

 

Erend wheezed, knocking his head back against the stone. “No kidding. Fire and spit, I thought that thing was going to eat you for a second.” He dragged a heavy hand down his face, leaving a smear of blood down his nose. Both look broken, slightly misaligned a swollen. Aloy offer a relatively clean scrap of her old Brave gear, and Erend dabbed at the blood that hadn't congealed to his skin with a grateful nod.

 

Varl tapped Aloy’s shoulder with something heavy, and Aloy turned to find a bulging skin hovering at eye-level. It’s body-warm and oily, and the water inside was just as disgusting, but it was water and her throat felt like sand. It’s still sore when she hands it to Talanah, but Aloy’s was lying on a fallen bridge somewhere, and Talanah and Erend’s are hanging in ragged scraps down their thighs. “How are we getting down?” she asked, waving vaguely towards the ruined steps. “HADES did a number on the path coming up, and we need to get down before we run out of water.”

 

Varl was watching and pretending not to, still trying to cling to his aloof, tough-as-nails image, but Aloy saw the little jolt that ran through him when Erend sighed. “We’ll have to play it by ear,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, smearing more blood around his already rust-red collar. “We had a couple of exit routes, but our friend the Deathbringer out there shot most of them clean off the rock.”

 

Talanah scoffed, passing the skin to Erend and holding her hands up and. They were bad. Really bad. Aloy hissed in sympathy at the giant red welts across her palms, and the deep gouges in the meat of her thumbs. Her hand flew automatically to her pouch, but all she had left were a few doses of Metalburn antidote. Talanah shrugged at the gesture and put her hands back in her lap. “I’m not doing any rappelling, not for a couple of days at least. I’d like to keep what skin I have left, thanks.”

 

Aloy craned backwards to look behind them, out over the courtyard and the smoldering field of the farmland below. Everything was washed out and covered in ash, but the light was clearly falling. How long had she been out? Surely not more than an hour? But the sun was definitely beginning to creep below the tree-line, and the air was cooling despite the fires below. “We can think about it tomorrow,” she declared, rubbing her hands dry on a wire-free flap of her skirt. “It’s going to be too dark to climb soon.”

 

Varl took first watch, by virtue of having the least amount of head trauma. After a good deal of shuffling, grunting, and elbows in tender places, Aloy and the others settle into a heap. Erend made a good pillow, without all that heavy armor, and between the four of them they managed to scrounge up enough cloth to make a passable pillow for Erend.

 

Aloy couldn’t sleep, though. All through Varl’s watch, and Talanah’s. Her eyes stayed fixed on the husk of HADES every moment she didn’t have to fake rest. Watching for a stray spark, a flicker of red smoke, wires creeping into the soil. All through the evening, and late into the night, Aloy watched. She waited for that hideous voice to ring in her ears again.

 

 

 

**~*~**

 

 

 

Aloy kept her silent vigil until morning, and nudged Varl awake first. He came up easily, stiff but not locked up, and Aloy motioned him away to the far side of the courtyard. “Let them sleep a bit more,” Aloy whispered, pointing to a slab they could sit on.

 

Varl was smart. Aloy knew this, had for months. He had Vala’s blood, and Sona’s. As soon as they were settled, he held out the skin again and pinned Aloy with a searching look. She took a long swallow in silence, using it as a distraction while she gathered her words. “I’m not going back.” Better to lay it all out, right? She watched him from the corner of her eyes, holding the skin between them like a shield.

 

Varl blinked slowly, taking the skin back and rolling the neck between his palms. “You… aren’t?”

 

Aloy nodded and began plucking stray fastening out of her sleeves. “I can’t. I need to be here when that,” she gestured to HADES, still embedded in the tower, “gets cleaned up.”

 

Varl shook his head once, angling himself towards her with big, pleading eyed. “You can still go back after. You have the Seeker’s mark. You could even leave again, if you wanted to.” Aloy heard the unspoken words. _But please don’t._ “Come home, Aloy.”

 

Aloy clenched her hands until her knuckles turned white. “I can’t. There’s nothing there for me. You know that, don’t you?” She lifted her head and locked eyes with Varl. “I am not your Anointed. I have no place in the tribe, now that my job is done.” Varl shook his head again, and Aloy plowed on before he could voice an objection. “Varl. I did my job. And I know you heard me in the temple.”

 

Varl sucked in a huge breath and let it out in a sigh that seemed to deflate his entire body. But his smile was sunny and sincere when he recovered, holding out a hand for Aloy to shake. “I can’t convince you, can I?”

 

Aloy grinned, grasping his hand and pulling him in to knock their shoulders together. “No. And thank you for not trying too hard.”

 

Varl chuckled, heaving them both up in one easy pull. “Okay. Then I’ll wish you luck, and remind you that the valley is always open to you, if you ever need real clothes and good food.” Aloy raised her eyebrows, looking pointedly at the burned-off patch that used to be fur on his shoulders, and Varl shrugged like he wasn't short five pounds of armor. "Alright, maybe just the food, but the offer always stands."

 

“What, not taste for Carja fare?” Aloy snarked, poking at the blackened leather of his chest piece. “Not a fan of corn?”

 

Varl wrinkled his nose. “Not at all.”

 

"Hm. I might miss the food enough to come see you once or twice a year."


End file.
